RAPID ECOLOGICAL CHANGES ARE BEING BROUGHT ABOUT BY A WARMING CLIMATE. WE ARE SEEING SHIFTS IN SPECIES RANGES, CHANGES IN POPULATION DEMOGRAPHY, AND ALTERED SPECIES INTERACTIONS. THE PRESSING PROBLEMS DUE TO CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE AFFECT BOTH ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS AND EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES. THE RESEARCH TO BE CONDUCTED WILL ASK - "HOW DO ABIOTIC FACTORS SUCH AS CHANGING TEMPERATURES AFFECT ECO-EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES IN HOST-PATHOGEN SYSTEMS?'' UNDERSTANDING HOW ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCE ECO-EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS AND, IN TURN, AFFECT DISEASE TRANSMISSION AND EPIDEMIC OUTBREAKS REPRESENTS A FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION IN DISEASE AND EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY. THE RESEARCH WILL BE CARRIED OUT USING AN IDEAL MODEL SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS -- THE FALL ARMYWORM (SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA), AN AGRICULTURAL PEST, AND ITS SPECIES-SPECIFIC VIRUS. FALL ARMYWORM POPULATIONS ARE WIDESPREAD AND, LIKE OTHER OUTBREAKING INSECTS, ITS POPULATION DYNAMICSARE PATHOGEN REGULATED. TO QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF CHANGING TEMPERATURES ON HOST-PATHOGEN COEVOLUTION, WE WILL ESTABLISH SEPARATE POPULATIONS OF HOSTS AND PATHOGENS DERIVED FROM A GEOGRAPHICAL GRADIENT COVERING THEIR DISTRIBUTIONS. WE WILL USE THESE POPULATIONS TO DETERMINE HOW CHANGING TEMPERATURES AFFECT HOST RESISTANCE TO THE VIRUS, PATHOGEN VIRULENCE, AND DISEASE TRANSMISSION. WE WILL ALSO TRACK CHANGES IN THE HOST AND PATHOGEN TRANSCRIPTOME AS WELL AS GENOME. USING THESE DATA, WE WILL QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF ABIOTIC FACTORS ON DISEASE TRANSMISSION AND WHETHER THESE EFFECTS VARY DUE TO ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES ALONE, HOST EVOLUTION, PATHOGEN EVOLUTION, OR HOST-PATHOGEN COEVOLUTION.WHILE THIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON A PARTICULARLY DEVASTATING PEST, THE RESULTS WILL BE APPLICABLE TO NUMEROUS SILVICULTURAL AND AGRICULTURAL PEST SPECIES THAT ARE READILY INFECTED BY PATHOGENS AND WHOSE DYNAMICS WILL BE AFFECTED BY CHANGING TEMPERATURES. THIS RESEARCH WILL ALSO IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO DETERMINE HOW BEST TO USE THESE PATHOGENS AS BIOINSECTICIDES FROM AN ECO-EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE FORINTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT. BESIDES ANSWERING QUESTIONS INVOLVING BASIC AND APPLIED ASPECTS OF HOST-PATHOGEN COEVOLUTION, STUDENTS INVOLVED IN THE GRANT WILL BE TRAINED IN A WIDE VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES - MATH, ECOLOGY, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, AND TRANSCRIPTOMICS -- WHICH WILL RESULT IN A DEEP APPRECIATION OF THE ISSUES INVOLVED IN SCIENTIFIC WORK, COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS, AND MATHEMATICAL MODELING. ADDITIONALLY, A SERIES OF AGRICULTURAL OUTREACH SEMINARS ON PEST POPULATION DYNAMICS WILL BE CONDUCTED AT AGRICULTURE FIELD DAY EVENTS TO DISSEMINATE THE RESEARCH AND ITS RESULTS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.